Ciri’s lineage is intimately tied to her powers and importance in The Witcher Season 2, and a significant component is the idea that she is possessed of Elder Blood, also known as Hen Ichaer or Lara gene, an incredibly rare heritage supposedly passed down through the descendants of Lara Dorren. Elder Blood is intimately tied to the idea of incredibly strong magic, and Ciri has already displayed that since her very first appearance in the show when she destroyed the monolith outside Cintra. Her powers only get greater in Season 2, and in the finale, it is revealed that she is able to summon monsters through portals, and also potentially navigate between Spheres, which might not have conjoined, as is commonly accepted, but collided, the monoliths functioning as a kind of network between them that Ciri can traverse. But does Ciri have Elder Blood? If so, how did she inherit it? And what might all this mean going forwards?
Does Ciri have Elder Blood?
In short, yes. It’s pretty indisputable. But the real question might be whether she inherited it from Lara Dorren’s bloodline or Falka’s.
The commonly held theory is that Ciri is a descendent of Lara Dorren. Lara was an elven sorceress who fell in love with Cregennan of Lod, a human mage, in a controversial union. They had a child together, but she became an orphan and was subsequently adopted by Cerro, who at the time was the Queen of Redania and called her Riannon. During the rebellion of Cerro’s step-daughter Falka, Riannon was accidentally imprisoned, where she gave birth to twins, Fiona and Amavet. Falka, before her execution, gave her own child to Riannon to nurse, and in her madness, Riannon was never able to tell which of the children was hers and which was Falka’s. Ciri is believed to be a descendant of Fiona, but there’s a theory, albeit slim, that the two might have been mixed up, and she’s really a descendent of Falka’s daughter Adela.
Either way, she has Elder Blood, since Falka is said to have inherited it from her half-elf mother and elf grandmother.
Ciri’s parents were Duny and Pavetta, whom we met in the first season when Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise. In the second season episode “Dear Friend…”, Istredd looks into Cintran genealogy and discovers that all the women of the bloodline possess a unique gene, passed down through generations, either dormant or active. It didn’t seem like Calanthe had an affinity for magic, but still carried the gene, but Pavetta and Ciri inherited the gene and the powers. Ciri’s Elder Blood and power to transition between Spheres is also why the Wild Hunt is pursuing her.
